This invention relates to artist's materials, and more particularly to a portable light weight easel for sketching, or painting, which can be supported on the artist's lap when in use to support the medium being used at an appropriate angle with places to conveniently hold pencils, pens, brushes and other supplies such as ink, coloring materials and palette, etc. In addition, the easel may be folded quickly, with the aforementioned supplies contained in appropriate compartments, into a substantially flat carrying case having a carrying handle which can be utilized, not only for carrying the materials from place to place, but for hanging easels in a systematic way on a rack which accommodates a number of easels, such as when a group of students are involved.
Sketching and drawing is often done to field trips or in brief periods of time available to the artist during his daily travels. Traditionally, the artist has carried a sketch book and a few pencils or a pen when outside his well equipped studio. However, the sketch book alone is awkward to handle and imposes limits on the artist's ability in the field.
Various attempts to alleviate these problems have been made in the past by constructing folding easels as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,589,320; 3,833,098; 1,593,166; 1,527,014; 2,530,605 and 346,547. Another approach, which involves the provisions of means for supporting a drawing board with one hand is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,896,328, while U.S. Pat. No. 1,613,440 discloses a form of attache case containing numerous compartments accessible when in use with a shoulder strap for supporting the case.